Home sweet home for Huskies

News-Times, The (Danbury, CT)

Published 7:00 pm, Saturday, November 17, 2007

So after the Huskies completed a perfect 7-0 home campaign with a 30-7 win over Syracuse Saturday, sending themselves to Morgantown, W.Va., with a Big East championship and BCS berth in their control, it was tough for Edsall to keep his composure.
"I couldn't be prouder of a bunch of guys. I don't know if I've ever been around a bunch of guys like those guys," said Edsall, pausing to dab a few tears. "Who would have ever thought after 11 games, being 9-2 and this team would be playing for the Big East championship next week? Probably nobody in America thought that, except the guys in that locker room. I'm just glad they've allowed me to be a small part of it."
Tailbacks Donald Brown and Andre Dixon combined for 161 yards rushing and two touchdowns for UConn (9-2, 5-1), which sprinted to a 21-0 halftime lead and was never challenged by the struggling Orange (2-9, 1-5).
Edsall, though he insists he knew his team "would be better" this season, wasn't alone in his preseason thoughts. In fact, the only person who openly predicted UConn would play for a Big East title was Husky defensive tackle Dan Davis.
"Everybody had their microphones in my face looking at me like I was a maniac," said Davis, recalling his bold statements made during Big East media day in July. "I wasn't out there giving you false bravado. I was giving you what I felt we accomplished in the offseason and what we could really do. I'm not crazy. I'm a realist. I've been here for three years and I know what it takes."
What it took Saturday at Rentschler Field was a quick strike. UConn quarterback Tyler Lorenzen hit Terence Jeffers with a 63-yard touchdown pass on the team's first drive of the game.
"It was good we finally made a big play. It was a great throw and catch, then Terence broke the tackle," Edsall said. "It was important. The one thing I didn't want to do is I didn't want to give this team (Syracuse) any life."
The Huskies made it 14-0 later in the first quarter when Dixon scored from one yard out, taking advantage of the short field created by a fumble from Syracuse quarterback Andrew Robinson.
Brown got in on the scoring action in the second quarter, taking a handoff and running 21 yards through a few arm tackles to put the home team up 21-0. Brown ran five times for 42 yards on the seven-play drive.
A 33-yard Tony Ciaravino field goal made it 24-0 late in the third quarter, though it came after the Huskies moved backward following a first-and-goal at the 5.
UConn safety Robert Vaughn thwarted one of the Orange's best scoring chances, making his team-leading sixth interception in the end zone late in the third quarter. Linebacker Danny Lansanah provided the exclamation point on Syracuse's next drive, picking off second-string quarterback Cameron Dantley and returning it 49 yards for a touchdown to make it 30-0.
Despite running the ball rather effectively against UConn's front in the early going, the closest Syracuse came to scoring in the first half was a missed field goal by Patrick Shadle from 40 yards away.
Robinson and Dantley were a combined 15-of-38 for 120 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions.
Syracuse finally got on the scoreboard with a 16-play drive late in the game. Mike Williams capped the drive by hauling in a two-yard scoring pass from Dantley to provide the final margin.
Lorenzen finished 16-of-24 for 213 yards and a touchdown.
The Huskies didn't set the world on fire in their home finale, continuing to play rather conservatively, but it wasn't much different than the way they earned their first eight wins.
"Play good defense, don't give up the big play, create some turnovers," Edsall said of the team's philosophy. "And then offensively, run the football, throw with efficiency, don't turn the ball over.
"It's what we've been able to do and we're not going to change now.
Today was very typical of what it's been about all year long."
PLAY OF THE GAME -- Quarterback Tyler Lorenzen's 63-yard touchdown pass to Terence Jeffers on the Huskies' first drive of the game.
"Coming off the game we had last week, we wanted to get a fast start so we could have some confidence," coach Randy Edsall said. "We didn't want to fall behind and try to play from behind again."
PLAYER OF THE GAME -- Running back Donald Brown ran 22 times for 99 yards.
FAST FACT -- Saturday was Edsall's 50th win as UConn's coach. He trails only J.O. Christian (66) and Tom Jackson (62) in school history.
UP NEXT -- Nov. 24 at West Virginia (3:30 p.m., ABC)